


Home for the Holidays

by perpetulant



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: And More Angst, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, General Angst, Holiday Angst, but it has a good ending, mostly just Leorio being an angsty 'teenager'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9243140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetulant/pseuds/perpetulant
Summary: Leorio is studying hard, but his conscience gets the better of him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A small thing written for the 2016 HxH Holiday exchange on Tumblr. The person I wrote it for dropped out, so I figured I would share this with the masses!

Leorio hated the winter. It was always too damn cold for his liking no matter what he did.  Sure, he could easily turn on the heat but then that would cost money and money was always something that the young medical student seemed never have a surplus of.  Finances were beyond tight for a struggling medical student (Hunter certified or not) and he often reasoned with himself that this was merely just a test to see just how committed he was to getting that degree, if he truly wanted it bad enough.

Ah, to have a degree.

He looked up wistfully behind wire frames to a bare expanse of wall above his makeshift desk, eyes focusing in to the crooked nail that he knew would one day hold up a framed slip of paper that would signify that he, Leorio Paladiknight, was in fact good enough to save lives.  It filled him with such a warmth that spurred him on in his studies to think that one day, he could help heal people and no one would ever have to lose a loved one again.

Minutes passed, and then the minutes turned to hours and he was still furiously typing away on his computer with strained eyes behind glasses, orchestrating the thesis that would assure him a spot at the top of his class. He could feel the sense of pride welling up in his chest, a feeling which was rapidly replaced with guilt when he saw his phone light up from the corner of his eye.  How long had he decided that it was time to think of himself above others, for the greater good?  It ached in his stomach to think of his friends and how they had all reached out to him.  How many missed calls and texts – from Gon, Killua, and even the stoically detached Kurapika – were awaiting him on that lit screen? How long had he ignored them?  It was with great reluctance that he reached out his hand to take the phone, apprehensive and anxious as he flipped open the device.

Was there really only one message?

There was only one missed message this time.  Usually it was quite a few, enough to instill equal parts guilt and irritation… but just one?  It was from Gon, the one who usually tried the hardest to reach him, leaving long strings of messages daily that often just detailed his day and let Leorio know that the adventurous boy was okay.  Typically, he was with Killua doing something dangerous and often assured Leorio that they were fine, that he didn’t need to worry (though he often found himself still worried over the two youths). Only a single message was strange and off-putting and it sent heat flaring through Leorio’s cheeks.  Didn’t Gon know that it was almost Christmas?  Didn’t he know that Leorio was stressed with school and a bit of holiday cheer would have been a blessing?

The irrational seething had overtaken him and blocked all concentration and had him pushing away from his desk in a huff, wheeled desk chair rocketing backward and almost toppling over the rug that lay limp in the center of the room.  “Ugh,” his voice rang out in the long-silent room, sounding almost alien and not his own.  It was out of pure spite that he hadn’t looked at the text message from Gon yet, as if him leaving the message unread would irk the dark-haired boy, though he knew that something so trivial would never bring down the young hunter’s spirits.

With jerked motions, he grabbed at his phone again, wasting no time in opening the phone.  Maybe a harshly worded reply would remind Gon just how busy Leorio was, too busy to be bothered with just a -single- text.  What he saw in the text, however, snapped him from his anger and instead replaced the heat in his stomach with a cold, hard guilt.  There were no words, just three very-familiar smiling faces accompanied by terrible holiday sweaters and faux antlers on their heads.  They looked so happy, even Kurapika, joined together and lit by a fireplace though there was no warmth felt for Leorio.  That heavy guilt nagged at him, reminding him of all the texts and calls he avoided, how what he was doing for himself was infinitely more important than anything that his friends could need to talk about.  What all had he missed?  Kurapika’s hair had grown and it looked like Gon had grown taller himself, though it seemed that Killua had not changed much more than gaining a slight softness in his eyes.  With a tilt of his head, Leorio regarded his own reflection in the mirror, an action he hadn’t done in a few days.

He was almost surprised by what he saw. He looked different – his glasses seemed ready to abandon his face entirely, his face seemed more angry as the fine lines on his face were more apparent, his hair was a bit overgrown as well as the stubble on his chin.  He looked older, unkempt and uncared for.  Had he really neglected himself so much that he was falling apart?  He knew his worry was overboard, that his guilt and self-doubt were combining to make him feel this way – luckily for him, he knew just how to make it better and to shut up his demons (at least for a little while).

This close to the holidays, it was all but impossible to find a cab, but after throwing himself in front of one it seemed to make the task much more simple and he was on his way to his friends to spend the holidays with those who mattered to him.  He may not have had blood relations to care about, but his three best friends were more family than he could have ever hoped to have and it seemed that he had a lot of time to make up for and a lot of stories of adventures to hear firsthand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This was my first time writing Leorio and I really hope I captured him properly! Hopefully I'll be able to write more in the future, and I'm always up for suggestions on my tumblr (@bifurcatedprince).


End file.
